DH has shingles...can we visit our nephew who has had no vaccinations?

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DH been feeling rotten for about a week now....today he came up in the tell tale spotty looking things across his side, back and some on legs.

We're meant to be going to MIL"s tomorrow for boxing day lunch....but SIL has a 2 year old who is completely unvaccinated. (I know, I know...don't ask!}

Will it be bad for our nephew? What happens? Can we still go or should we cancel?

We've just called MIL to let her know...she's saying "Oh it's fine!" which she would say because of course she wants us to go...but DH told her to tell SIL because it's up to her.

What's the sensible thing?

Hi op, hope your husband is comfortable and you're doing ok - whatever happens with sil or mil I hope he gets better soon!

If SIL has a 2 yr old, is there a possibility she could be pregnant? - for me that would be the greater concern than the dnephew, because chicken pox in pregnancy can be a serious problem. I'm surprised so many pp say 'can't pass it on without touching the rash, therefore ok' - I'd take the cautious route and avoid altogether if I were pregnant.

This is the first time I have seen on mn the argument that the rubella vaccination is unethical because it is of no physical benefit to the dc, and is undertaken for the benefit of other (as yet unborn) dc and their mothers. I do think there's a good argument that it is of some benefit to the dc, in this sense; if that unvaccinated dc caught rubella and unwittingly 'caused' to a baby the congenital problems that are caused by rubella in pregnancy, I think that would be a detriment to that dc. Because none of us wants to be the unwitting cause of harm.

But I think it's not an unreasonable point of view to discuss without talking about 'woo'. And the poster who said that it is not widely pointed out that a dc does not 'need' rubella vaccination in the same way as whooping cough or polio vaccination, is correct - judging by discussions I've had about this in rl!

Going back to the OP, I wasn't able to find a post saying that shingles had actually been confirmed. Although I'm not really germ-phobic it seems unreasonable to take an unknown illness into a social gathering.

What happened in the end?

Ciutadella, if the mother is immune to CP herself then it won't be a problem if she's pregnant.

The best course of action is just to mention that he could have shingles and see how everyone feels about it.

True bumbly, but then how do you know - you can be non immune even if you've had cp. which is why if i were pregnant i would keep away to be on the safe side. But it all depends on the person's own assessment of the risk - others may be more relaxed. Which is why as you say, always tell the visitee before setting off!

Chickenpox vax is fairly new various forms of chicken pox vaccine have been around since the 70's.

My brother was vaccinated in Japan in the very early 70's

Sorry he didn't get to Japan until 74 so it was probally mid 70's

If SIL has a 2 yr old, is there a possibility she could be pregnant? - for me that would be the greater concern than the dnephew, because chicken pox in pregnancy can be a serious problem

I wonder what the proportion of pregnant women is where one of their own DC's had chicken pox while they are pregnant. It is only dangerous if you catch it, in other words if you aren't immune to it. Dd1 had CP while I was pregnant with Dd2.

In any case the same thing applies ask SIL if it's OK

Children do need to have CP anyway as it's worse as an adult, unless you are going to get them vaccinated. I don't get the MN avoid it at all costs mentality - I was very glad I'd had it in childhood during my second pregnancy....!